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Iowa high school boys’ state basketball 2023: Championship Friday scores, stats and more
4 state champions crowned at Wells Fargo Arena
It’s Championship Friday in the 2023 Iowa high school boys’ state basketball tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. Stay up to date with scores, stats and more here throughout the day.
Boys’ state basketball coverage
» Everything but a championship for Cedar Rapids Xavier
» Grand View Christian is just too much for North Linn to overcome this time
» Updated boys’ state basketball brackets, schedule, scores
Friday’s boys’ state basketball scores
CLASS 4A CHAMPIONSHIP
No. 4 West Des Moines Valley 75, No. 3 Waukee Northwest 67
Is this the start of a dynasty in Class 4A?
With four sophomores in the starting lineup, Valley (21-5) took a 38-30 halftime lead with a 27-point second quarter and didn’t look back. The Tigers won their third state championship and first since 2016.
One of those sophomores, Zay Robinson scored a game-high 28 points. Two more sophs were in double figures, Curtis Stinson with 19 and Kiki Deng with 12.
Grant Tigges led Northwest (23-3) with 27 points, 19 coming in the first half. Iowa commit Pryce Sandfort finished with 19 points and nine rebounds.
It was a well-played title game. Valley shot 61.7 percent from the floor (7-for-14 from 3-point range), Northwest 51 percent (9-of-19 on 3s) and both teams had just nine turnovers.
CLASS 3A CHAMPIONSHIP
No. 1 Bondurant-Farrar 58, No. 4 Cedar Rapids Xavier 55
Bondurant-Farrar completed a perfect season with some timely plays and free throws in crunch time and beat Cedar Rapids Xavier, 58-55, in a beauty of a 3A championship game Friday night at Wells Fargo Arena.
The Bluejays ran the table at 26-0 despite leading for only five minutes and 31 seconds of this tensely-played affair. Xavier was ahead for 24:15.
That cliche about so close, yet so far.
“It hurts, obviously. It stings,” said Xavier Coach Mike Freeman. “Our kids competed their tails off ... We told them ‘You don’t walk out of that locker room with your heads down.’ They gave us everything they had. We told them to leave it on the floor, and they absolutely did tonight.”
Tied at 52 with under a minute left, B-F got a back-door layup from Jaxson Fried, only to have Aidan Yamilkoski come right back with a huge 3 to give Xavier a 55-54 lead with 46 seconds left. Yamilkoski led the Saints with 17 points and was selected the 3A all-tournament captain.
Reed Pfaltzgraff made two free throws as Yamilkoski fouled out with 29.7 seconds left to put Bondurant-Farrar back ahead. Xavier worked for a final shot, but Lemker was stripped of the ball trying to penetrate the left side of the lane with 4.1 to go.
Pfaltzgraff made two more free throws, and Lemker’s desperation 3 at the buzzer was no good. Xavier seemingly did everything but win this game.
» Read more from The Gazette’s Jeff Johnson
» Photo gallery from The Gazette’s Jim Slosiarek
CLASS 2A CHAMPIONSHIP
No. 1 Central Lyon 72, No. 5 Western Christian 59
Top-ranked Central Lyon (24-1) beat perennial power Western Christian (22-4) for its first boys’ state basketball championship.
Ephraim Hoefert and Josh Elbert hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Lions a 50-44 lead entering the fourth quarter, then Zach Lutmer started the final period with a trey. In all, it was a 13-0 run that proved to be the difference in the game.
Central Lyon was 8-for-17 from deep, Western 3-for-16.
Lutmer — an Iowa football commit — scored a game-high 25 points, hitting 7 of 12 shots from the field and 9 of 10 at the free-throw line. He also had seven rebounds and six assists. Reece Vander Zee added 21 points, Andrew Austin 17 and eight boards. Tate VanRegenmorter had 19 points for Western.
Central Lyon was the 2A runner-up last season in its first state tournament. The Wolfpack had only lost one other time in 11 previous championship game appearances.
CLASS 1A CHAMPIONSHIP
No. 1 Grand View Christian 63, No. 2 North Linn 46
No miracle finish this time. So it’s second place for the North Linn Lynx.
Which is never a bad season.
Grand View Christian, its super tall front line and super quick point guard, was simply too much Friday afternoon in the Class 1A state basketball tournament championship game.
The top-ranked Thunder (27-0) completed a perfect season with a 63-46 win over North Linn (26-1) in the rubber match of their title-game troika against each other. Grand View won the 2018 championship game by three points, North Linn last year’s by four.
“That’s a buzzsaw team,” said North Linn’s Tate Haughenbury. “It just sucks, you know? We put it together for four years with these small-town kids. Going up against those guys, there’s not much you can do about it. Sometimes you’re just outmatched.”
Grand View built a big lead in the second half, then gave all-tournament captain Josh Sanderson the ball to dribble around the perimeter until late in the shot clock. He’d then create for himself or a teammate. Sanderson, who had 41 points in GVC’s semifinal win over West Harrison, had 18 points here and was named the 1A tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
» Read more from The Gazette’s Jeff Johnson
» Photo gallery from The Gazette’s Jim Slosiarek
Grand View Christian's Daniel Tobiloba reacts after an alley-oop during the first half of the Class 1A championship game against North Linn at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa, on Friday, March 10, 2023. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
